Creamed

Uktar 23, 1373 DR, beyond Nedrezzar’s crypt

We arrived at Pommeville at dusk. The town was, if possible, even more rundown than when we’d last seen it just one week ago. We studiously avoided the tall, vacant wizard’s tower and concentrated our efforts on the half-built temple to Tiamat, which appeared deserted. We headed into the temple, and down to the “secret” entrance that took us into the altar room behind a statue. Nosila and I, and of course Widget, were the only ones to make it that far when Nosila spotted eight zombies— who spotted her too! She managed to get to the double doors to let the rest of the party engage the undead, and got zapped by the doors in the process—someone had hung them back up since our previous visit.

After a brief battle, the zombies lay motionless at our feet. Knowing the altar was trapped, I attempted to make the illusion of little Tiamat “amulets” for everyone to carry to let us pass. While I argued with the cleric Melark that he need not worship Tiamat to carry the symbol through a trap, Nosila found that it was a mute point— the trap could tell the difference. Once again, we were faced with four skeletal warriors leaping out from the altar. They were dispatched much more quickly than the last few times, and I told Darvin to use something other than his hands to strike the top of each of the four skulls on the altar to reveal the staircase. He did somehow manage to hit one with his hand and got a nasty prick from the trap as a result.

The unusual tension that Darvin seems to cause got out of hand at this point. He had his lit lantern and was complaining that there was no one to carry it for him while he used his two-handed weapon. Nosila, anxious to be done with the lich (and to kill her undead husband) grabbed the lantern to lead us down the stairs under the altar. Darvin got angry that she “stole” his property and grappled with the barbarian woman; they both fell down the steps with the lantern, causing the glass to shatter and the oil in it to splatter on them, in turn catching their clothing on fire as they arrived at the bottom of the steps. They landed at the feet of six more undead creatures, and had to fight them and put out the flames on their clothes simultaneously (not to mention, they were now smacking each other around too). I got to Nosila and attempted to put her out with water from my waterskin, but it wasn’t enough. I remembered from my schooling that the fire had to be smothered to go out, so I next dropped about a pound of banana cream on Nosila. That put the fire right out, though she howled about the sticky substance that replaced the flames.

The undead were finally defeated, I dismissed the banana cream, and Nosila and Darvin went right back to their brawl, resulting in Darvin landing unconscious on the stone floor. I suggested we pass him up the steps before going into the crypt, so he wouldn’t be trampled if we needed to make a hasty retreat.

As we attempted to go into the lich’s crypt, four shadows passed through the walls to engage us. I tried to scare them off with a well-placed sun, hoping they would leave an area with no real shadows in it, but it only provided light for my companions to more clearly see what to attack. I ended up dropping it in favor of an offensive spell when my companions were starting to look weak. Once the last of the shadows were dispatched, the impatient Melark flung open the crypt doors, taking the brunt of the spell that was on them.

The room was virtually empty, save for the sarcophagus (which Maiyr quickly determined was empty) and a scroll placed on its lid. Fearing a trap, I used a mage hand spell to unroll the scroll, opening it away from the party. Nothing happened, so I turned the scroll around to face us….

After a split-second of disorientation, I found myself with Maiyr, Nosila and the inert form of Darvin in a long narrow corridor. I realized Widget was not with me, and began to panic while Nosila and Maiyr fought over what to do with Darvin. Moments later (as Nosila and Maiyr were coming to blows over what to do), Widget appeared a few feet above me with a surprised squeak— luckily I caught him. The scroll had cast a spell that had affected us, and when we disappeared, he allowed the spell to carry him as well so I wouldn’t be alone.

As I was hugging Widget, I noticed that Nosila had just fallen at Maiyr’s feet. The elf then turned and thrust his sword through Darvin, killing him outright.